Attitudes About Internet Support Groups Among Adolescents and Young Adults with Neurofibromatosis Type 1 and their Parents

Youth with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) have multiple, complex symptoms associated with physical, social-emotional, and cognitive difficulties. In addition, caring for a child with NF1 can be extremely challenging for parents. Since research with other chronic illness populations suggests that social support, including internet support groups (ISGs), can be beneficial, this survey study aimed to determine the attitudes and preferences of adolescents and young adults with NF1 and parents of a child with NF1 regarding ISGs. Thirty patients and 30 caregivers completed a 24-item survey about ISGs. Many patients and parents are not aware of any ISGs for NF1, but are interested in using one in the future for a variety of reasons, including to get answers to their questions about NF1, to find out about research studies, and to discuss problems and concerns about NF1. Specific concerns of interest include physical, social-emotional, and cognitive aspects of NF1. ISGs have potential as a social support intervention within the NF1 community. ISGs for the NF1 population should include patients with NF1 (or parents of children with NF1) as well as a health professional, and both chat rooms and discussion boards likely would be well-received.     

Is It OK If Mommy Dates? The Influence of Mother’s Post-Divorce Dating Transitions for Children’s Behaviors

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Despite many mothers’ interest in establishing romantic relationships following divorce, some worry about the impacts of dating transitions, such as...     

The Role of Perfectionism in Relation to an Intervention to Reduce Anxious and Depressive Symptoms in Children

Research has demonstrated an association between perfectionism and depressive and anxious symptoms in children. We examined whether a school-based program targeting anxious and depressive symptoms would reduce perfectionism, and whether perfectionism would interfere with intervention outcomes. The participants were 78 school-age children identified as at-risk for anxiety and/or depression. At-risk children took part in a randomized controlled trial of a school-based intervention program. Levels of perfectionism, depression, and anxiety were assessed at pre-treatment (Time 1) and again at post-treatment (Time 2) after participating in either a cognitive behavioral group or a structured activity group. Participation in either group was associated with significant reductions in overall levels of self-oriented perfectionism, anxious symptoms, and depressive symptoms. Supplementary analyses indicated that pre-treatment self-oriented perfectionism influenced post-treatment depression scores, suggesting that perfectionism interferes with treatment outcome. Perfectionism in children appeared amenable to group-based intervention, and identifying perfectionism may be important for treating children with depressive symptoms.     

Dimensions of Religion and Spirituality: A Longitudinal Topic Modeling Approach

In lieu of the traditional text data analysis methods, structural topic modeling was utilized to analyze the text contents of 255 self-report inventories of religion and spirituality (R/S) published from 1929 to 2017. The study had two objectives: (a) to clarify and identify the latent dimensions of R/S inherent in the items of the measures; and (b) to examine and demonstrate the usefulness of a longitudinal topic modeling in the study of R/S. We identified 5,617 unique text terms from the measures and fitted topic models on those terms to extract latent dimensions called topics. We also simultaneously analyzed the longitudinal effect of publication decade (i.e., 1950s–2010s) on the topics. A topic model with three topics was chosen to best support the data: Experience of Transcendence (Topic 1), Engagement in Transcendence (Topic 2), and Essence of Transcendence (Topic 3). In addition, the longitudinal analysis revealed that Topic 1 showed a continual increase over the decades, while Topics 2 and 3 both demonstrated a gradual decrease, in effect matching the general trend of Topic 1's increasing popularity in society and the academia.     

Cross-Age Peer Tutoring and Fluency-Based Instruction to Achieve Fluency with Mathematics Computation Skills: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The current study employed a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the use of peer tutoring and fluency-based instruction to increase mathematics fluency with addition and subtraction computation skills. Forty-one elementary school students between the ages of eight and 12 years participated in the 8-week study using cross-age peer tutoring, Say All Fast Minute Every Day Shuffled, frequency building, and the morningside math facts curriculum (Johnson in Morningside mathematics fluency: math facts (vol 1–6; curriculum program), Morningside Press, Seattle, 2008). Pre- and post-test measures of mathematics fluency and calculation were conducted with all participants. A measure of social skills and competing problem behaviors was also conducted at pre- and post-testing to evaluate any additional effects of the peer tutoring model. The results demonstrated a statistically significant difference between groups on measures of mathematics fluency, with the experimental group demonstrating significantly higher scores than the control group at post-testing. There were no significant differences between groups on measures of social skills and competing problem behaviors or calculation. The findings indicate that cross-age peer tutoring and fluency-based instruction resulted in positive outcomes for tutees in the mathematics domain, specifically mathematics fluency.     

Change in Maternal Stress for Families in Treatment for their Children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder

Our objective was to predict change in maternal stress over the course of a randomized clinical trial comparing the efficacy of two interventions for Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD): Parent Management Training and Collaborative & Proactive Solutions. In a secondary analysis of data collected from this randomized clinical trial, we examined whether children’s self-reported positive relations with their parents impacted responsiveness to treatment, which in turn impacted maternal stress. One hundred thirty-four children and their parents (38.1% female, ages 7–14, M age?=?9.51, SD?=?1.77) were tracked across three time points: pre-treatment; one-week post-treatment; and six-month post-treatment. Hierarchical linear models tested change in children’s reports of positive relations with parents, clinician reports of ODD severity, and maternal reports of parenting stress. Models then tested multilevel mediation from positive relations with parents, through ODD severity, onto maternal stress. Hypothesized indirect effects were supported such that children’s reports of positive views toward parents uniquely predicted reductions in ODD severity over time, which in turn uniquely predicted reductions in maternal stress. Results highlight the promise of potential secondary benefits for parents following interventions for children with oppositional problems. Furthermore, results underscore the importance of the parent–child relationship as both a protective factor and as an additional target to complement interventions for child disruptive behaviors.     

Ecological Networks and Community Attachment and Support Among Recently Resettled Refugees

Interventions aimed at enhancing mental health are increasingly centered around promoting community attachment and support. However, few have examined and tested the specific ecological factors that give rise to these key community processes. Drawing from insights from the ecological network perspective, we tested whether spatial and social overlap in routine activity settings (e.g., work, school, childcare) with fellow ethnic community members is associated with individuals’ attachment to their ethnic communities and access to social resources embedded in their communities. Data on routine activity locations drawn from the Refugee Well‐Being Project (based in a city in the Southwestern United States) were used to reconstruct the ecological networks of recently resettled refugee communities, which were two‐mode networks that comprise individuals and their routine activity locations. Results indicated that respondents’ community attachment and support increased with their ecological network extensity—which taps the extent to which respondents share routine activity locations with other community members. Our study highlights a key ecological process that potentially enhances individuals’ ethnic community attachment that extends beyond residential neighborhoods.     

Nature,nurture, and capital punishment: How evidence of a genetic–environment interaction,future dangerousness,and deliberation affect sentencing decisions

Research has shown that the low‐activity MAOA genotype in conjunction with a history of childhood maltreatment increases the likelihood of violent behaviors. This genetic–environment (G × E) interaction has been introduced as mitigation during the sentencing phase of capital trials, yet there is scant data on its effectiveness. This study addressed that issue. In a factorial design that varied mitigating evidence offered by the defense [environmental (i.e., childhood maltreatment), genetic, G × E, or none] and the likelihood of the defendant's future dangerousness (low or high), 600 mock jurors read sentencing phase evidence in a capital murder trial, rendered individual verdicts, and half deliberated as members of a jury to decide a sentence of death or life imprisonment. The G × E evidence had little mitigating effect on sentencing preferences: participants who received the G × E evidence were no less likely to sentence the defendant to death than those who received evidence of childhood maltreatment or a control group that received neither genetic nor maltreatment evidence. Participants with evidence of a G × E interaction were more likely to sentence the defendant to death when there was a high risk of future dangerousness than when there was a low risk. Sentencing preferences were more lenient after deliberation than before. We discuss limitations and future directions.